


mistake

by reddieforlove



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, Fluff, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Language, M/M, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-19 09:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13121061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddieforlove/pseuds/reddieforlove
Summary: Richie wakes up in an apartment that is definitely not his best friend’s with a cat that he’s never seen on his chest and a really attractive stranger sitting nearby watching him. He really wished he could remember how the hell he got there.





	1. Richie

**Author's Note:**

> I know that I missed a couple of days and I'm sorry for that.

The first thing that Richie was aware of was the pounding in his head. It was constant and painful beyond belief. It didn't help that he apparently didn't remove his glasses before falling asleep. As he inwardly cursed both himself and Beverly for whatever might have happened the night before, he noticed that there was a weight on his chest…vibrating. With a groan, he lifted his hands to pat his way around, almost immediately coming in contact with something soft and furry. Peeking one eye open, he saw two pleased golden eyes staring back.

“The fuck?” he muttered.

Last thing he remembered, he was taking a taxi to Stan’s apartment, which happened to be closer to the bar than his. Other than Bev, his longtime best friend was the only one in the world who really knew the source of Richie’s moodiness around the holidays. Stan always took Richie in when he was at his worst, reminding him that he had a far better family now than the one he grew up with. Richie knew that he was right but that didn’t always make this time of the year easier to handle.

Richie tore himself out of his thoughts as he returned his attention to the animal still staring at him. Since when did Stan have a cat? Turning his head, his eyes scanned the rest of the room only to realize that he didn’t recognize it. Then his gaze fell on the overstuffed armchair that sat several feet away from him. Curled up on the cushion, a guy with dark hair who somehow managed to be both adorable and hot at the same time stared back at him, a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Oh,” Richie said, realization crashing down on him.

Stan didn’t have a cat. Stan’s living room didn’t look like this. He somehow ended up in the wrong apartment.

“You’re lucky she likes you or I would have called the cops by now,” the guy said, nodding at the cat who was stretched out on his bare torso.

“I…have no idea how the fuck this happened,” Richie admitted.

A smirk formed on the stranger’s face as he set his coffee cup aside.

“You crashed in through the fire escape window at four this morning. Luckily I recognize you from Stan’s pictures or you’d be sitting in a jail cell right about now,” he said, letting her legs down. “Since I know you’re his best friend, how about you get dressed and we go down to that diner across the street.”

“Diner?” Richie said, sitting up carefully.

The cat let out a meow of protest before jumping down with a glare in his direction.

“Yep,” the boy said, standing up and stretching his arms over his head before dropping them back to his sides. “You need a cup of coffee and I need breakfast. You’re buying, by the way.”

Searching around, Richie found his shirt nearby and tugged it over his head before pulling his jacket on as well.

“Shouldn’t I at least know your name first, cutie” he asked, watching him slip a pair of shoes on.

As Richie ran a hand through his messy hair, the other man glanced over his shoulder at him.

“I’m not sure yet. Get me some pancakes and we might be able to negotiate something,” he said with a smirk, turning to walk towards his door.

Richie followed with a smile playing on his lips. This might not have been such a bad thing after all. There were plenty of names he could come up with for this attractive stranger until he learned his real name.

“Is there any way that I can convince you not to tell Stan about this?” he questioned as they stepped out into the hall.

The cute guy let out a laugh, shaking his head.

“That ship has sailed my friend. I already sent him pictures.”

Richie let out an exaggerated groan, eliciting another laugh out of his new favorite person as they walked toward the elevator. Yeah, Christmas was hard. But maybe right now it wasn’t so bad.


	2. Eddie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on continuing this but a lot of people asked for more on here and tumblr so I am delivering. I hope that it's not too terrible.
> 
> Eddie and Richie get into some personal stuff and there's some talk about hard things. I adjusted the tags accordingly to warn about it.

Eddie didn’t really know what to make of the guy who crashed through his window at four in the morning, nearly scaring him right out of his apartment. Richie was sitting lazily  on the other side of the booth, one arm stretched over the back and his fingers rubbing at his eyes beneath the black, thick-framed glasses that he wore. He didn’t look as bad as he should have, which was unfair considering the amount of alcohol he apparently drank the night before. The only sign of any hangover was the slight redness in his eyes and the fact that he’d drank two full cups of black coffee since they sat down a mere ten minutes ago.

There was a positive spin on all of this, as far as Eddie was concerned. 

Richie didn’t seem to remember much from the night before, which meant that he probably didn’t recall that, soon after his graceless tumble through the window, Eddie approached him wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants and brandishing a toilet plunger since he didn’t have any other weapon on hand. He recognized the intruder from Stan’s pictures pretty quickly and never actually got around to hitting him with the plunger. Luckily Richie also probably didn’t remember Eddie’s shocked spluttering when he pulled his shirt over his head and collapsed on the couch, or the comment that slipped out of Eddie’s mouth as soon as the dark-haired man was snoring away.

_ “Look at me now, Bill,”  _ Eddie had muttered to himself while lowering the toilet plunger. _ “You assumed I’d be all alone on Christmas. Joke’s on you. I have a hot, shirtless, possibly insane guy in my apartment.” _

As soon as the words slipped out, Riley had jumped up onto the couch and curled up on the stranger’s chest, staring directly at Eddie as if to taunt him.

_ “Why yes, my cat particularly enjoyed snuggling with him,” _ Eddie had sighed, turning away but not before shooting his cat a glare.  _ “Traitor.” _

She simply purred in response, unconcerned with his annoyance. Maybe it was a horrible idea to leave someone he didn’t know sleeping on his couch but Eddie woke up to all of his belongings still where he left them and the guy still where Eddie left _him_ so, as far as ideas went, it wasn’t too bad.

“So, you take all the assholes who break into your apartment out for breakfast the next morning?” Richie asked, his low, rough voice breaking Eddie out of his thoughts and making his stomach flutter a little bit.

“Only the really crazy ones,” Eddie replied, absentmindedly stirring his cup of coffee.

Richie grinned at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Of course he was attractive. Eddie knew that from the pictures he’d seen scattered around Stan’s impeccable apartment. But they just didn’t do justice to the real, solid man sitting across from him. Even with his tangled curls and wrinkled clothes, he was gorgeous.

“And you’re taking  _ me  _ out for breakfast,” Eddie corrected him, shaking off the thoughts before his horrible poker face gave him away.

“Right,” Richie nodded, looking no less amused. “A proper date.”

“Not a date,” Eddie was quick to correct him. “You don’t even know my name.”

“And who’s fault is that, cutie?”

It was the second time he called Eddie that. Just like the first, warmth flooded his cheeks. Eddie didn’t break his gaze away, though, holding eye contact with the other man.

“How did you and Stan meet?” Eddie asked, changing the subject.

Richie didn’t look fooled, though he did sit back in the seat again as he casually sipped at his coffee.

“Middle school,” he finally answered.

“You’ve been friends that long?” Eddie said.

He nodded, setting down his cup.

“Stan likes to claim that he can’t shake me but I’ve never actually seen him try that hard,” Richie mock whispered as if it was some sort of secret.

“And you climbed the fire escape instead of using the door like a normal person because…?” Eddie said.

Richie let out a laugh, shaking his head.

“I would love to be able to answer that question. I’m sure I thought it was a good idea at the time.”

Eddie couldn’t help but laugh at that, ducking his head just in time to miss the soft look come over Richie’s gaze as he watched him. They fell into small talk for the next few minutes, telling one another about their jobs and friends until the waitress brought over their food, setting a plateful of pancakes with a side of bacon in front of Eddie. Richie just ordered white toast but didn’t touch it yet. Eddie felt his eyes on him as he fixed up his pancakes before taking a bite of bacon.

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Richie said, as if he’d been rehearsing it in his head. “About climbing through your window. I don’t actually drink all that often and usually I have better aim when I do. It’s just… Christmas fucking sucks.”

Eddie slowly lifted his eyes to see Richie looking at him guiltily, as if he expected a lecture on why he was wrong. There was something vulnerable in his gaze and Eddie couldn’t help but feel drawn in by it. He had dismissed Richie’s drunken state, thinking that it had everything to do with getting caught up in holiday festivities, but now he knew that it was something different. Christmas fucking sucks. That was an understatement but one that Eddie could definitely sympathize with.

“It’s okay,” he found himself saying, sitting up a little straighter. “I mean… I get it. I stopped going home right around the time that Christmas became the family-wide game of “let’s turn Eddie straight.’”

Richie’s eyebrows slowly rose as Eddie’s brain caught up with his mouth. He definitely didn’t mean to give away that much about himself. There was so much layered in his confession that he was about ready to duck under the table and never come out when Richie spoke, a smile on his face.

“Eddie, huh?” he said.

With wide eyes, Eddie realized that he’d come out as gay, revealed his family’s homophobic tendencies, and told Richie his name all at once. That had to be some kind of record.

“Use it wisely,” he said weakly, wondering when he became a flustered mess.

“Oh I plan to,” Richie vowed with a wink that made his heart skip a beat.

Oh yeah, Eddie’s loss of control over himself probably happened right about the time that six feet of gorgeous broke into his apartment.

“Now tell me the rules of this game,” Richie said, leaning forward with one elbow propped on the table. “I’ve never heard of it.”

Eddie realized what he was asking but he could easily read the seriousness beneath Richie’s joking tone. He knew that he could refuse to talk about it if he wanted. Richie wouldn’t push him. But there was a small voice in his head pushing at him to tell him about it. Eddie didn’t know how, but he sensed that Richie would understand.

“Oh you know,” he said, swirling a bite of pancake in the small puddle of syrup on his plate without putting it in his mouth. “Simple stuff, really. At least three people have to catch themselves before saying faggot. 'It's unnatural' has to be said every two minutes or you’ve definitely lost. Oh and it’s not really a good game if there isn’t a fair amount of tears and guilt from the maternal unit.”

Richie let out a low whistle, shaking his head.

“Well sign me the fuck up, Eds,” he said, though there was a serious look to his eyes as he stared at him. “I’ll be on your team, of course.”

Eddie’s eyes widened a little bit and he wondered if Richie was telling him what he thought he was.

“I’ll put you down on the invite list for next year,” he managed to say in a dry tone.

Richie huffed an almost laugh out before leaning forward a little bit more.

“Seriously,” he said, looking at Eddie with understanding in his eyes. “You’re made of strong stuff. Not many people can come out on the other side of shit like that and be okay.”

Eddie’s chest filled with warmth and he had to wonder why a compliment from a near-stranger suddenly had the ability to make him feel like this. Was it just Richie’s effect? Eddie turned into a world class grump, and that was saying it nicely, on the rare occasions that he was hungover so he couldn’t fathom how Richie managed it.

“Keep talking like that and you might just get a second date,” he said jokingly.

Richie grinned at him.

“So it is a date, huh?” he said.

Eddie shrugged, finally lifting his fork.

“I don’t let just anyone buy me pancakes,” he said before taking a bite. “And my cat likes you, so I guess that’s a mark in your favor.”

Richie nodded, reaching out to snatch up a piece of Eddie’s bacon before he could stop him.

“Just tell me when and where.”

“Not if you keep stealing my bacon.”

“But I love bacon.”

“Then order your own."

“But yours tastes better.”

“How could you possibly know that if you don’t order it?”

“I just know.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m starting to see why your cat likes me better than you.”

“She does not!”

“She totally does.”

Their bickering lasted for the rest of the meal but by the time they walked out of the diner, they already had plans for that second date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I would love to hear what you think!


End file.
